Here @ ZSR
I attended back-to-back workshops on leather bookbinding from March until June of this year. These workshops were taught remotely by Karen Hanmer, a gifted binder from Chicago. The first sessions in March were set aside for learning to use the tools to thin leather. The sessions in April, May and June were devoted to making... Continue reading “Leather Bookbinding Workshops” ›
This spring, I spent a week traveling from east to west across North Carolina teaching book repair at public libraries. I visited libraries in Burgaw (Pender County), Burlington (Alamance County) and Shelby (Cleveland County). The attendees are always fun and their questions come tumbling out throughout the day. Public libraries have few resources and little... Continue reading “Spring Book Repair Workshops” ›
While reading the Winston-Salem Journal this past summer, I saw the familiar name of African American artist David Bustill Bowser appearing in a reprinted Atlanta Journal Constitution article. Bowser, born in 1820 (d. 1900) and based in Philadelphia, made his living painting ornamental banners, portraits, and during the Civil War, flags for African American Union... Continue reading “A Wake Forest Connection with African American History” ›
Special Collections & Archives holds a small collection of posters from World War I. The posters vary in size from 17 x 22″ to 48 x 62″. The images are created from original artwork by a range of talented artists, such as Jessie Willcox Smith, Howard Chandler Christy and James Montgomery Flagg. These artists defined... Continue reading “Stabilizing World War I Posters” ›
The traditional use of catalog cards has been phased out of most modern libraries. However, catalog cards associated with The Wake Forest Student have been given new life—in digital form. This will benefit researchers who are trying to unearth the hidden works tucked away within the university’s historic literary magazine. We began uploading these digitized... Continue reading “The Wake Forest Student: Catalog Cards Receive Digital Revival” ›
On Friday, June 3rd, I taught a Basic Book Repair Workshop at the Historic Yates Mill County Park in Raleigh. The workshop was held at a beautiful location with a very nice facility nicely tucked away from the hectic roads in Raleigh. The park is surrounded by NC State test farms, and hosts the last... Continue reading “Basic Book Repair Workshop in Raleigh” ›
Special Collections & Archives (SCA), in the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, recently completed a very successful year, 2014-2015. Here is a brief listing of accomplishments and activities. For further information, please contact Tanya Zanish-Belcher, Director: zanisht@wfu.edu Departmental Accomplishments: Stephanie Bennett joined SCA as the Department’s new Collections Archivist. Her responsibilities focus on collections management, accessioning,... Continue reading “Special Collections & Archives Annual Report, 2014-2015” ›
I had to write about this. This book, with a lengthy title: The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants: … with their descriptions in English and French. To which is prefixed, a new and correct map of the countries; with observations... Continue reading “Preservation of the Catesby” ›
A story within a story, three members of the Special Collections and Archives team recount the discovery, preservation, and access of an exciting and well-traveled gem from the collection. We hope readers will enjoy the story and keep the relevance and enduring nature of the “Lebanon Greys” alive for at least another century! Vicki: It... Continue reading “A Civil War Gem found in the Archives (by Vicki, Craig and Rebecca)” ›
I spent a delightful weekend in Asheville making books at a workshop in west Asheville called Bookworks. The books I made were made with no glue, hence the title “Non-adhesive Bookbinding.” The instructor was Steve Pittelkow, a native of Minneapolis and an internationally know paper-marbler and teacher. Bookworks is a world class facility with a... Continue reading “Bookbinding in Asheville” ›